Li Xian

Life

He began as a licentiate, passed the Henan provincial examination in 1432, and is ranked variously as first-place graduate, or jieyuan, and as “50.” In 1433 he earned the jinshi degree, ranking twenty-first in the second class; he was first appointed a Secretary in the Ministry of Personnel’s Office of Verification and was sent to investigate the locust plague at Hejin. The grand secretary Yang Shiqi sought to meet him, but Li Xian did not go.

During the Zhengtong era, he served successively as Director of the Office of Evaluation and Director of the Office of Selection in the Ministry of Personnel. He proposed reducing the stipends of surrendered people beyond the frontier, a proposal Yingzong rejected, and recommended changing the nine-year term for court edicts to three years, which was later approved. He accompanied Yingzong on the northern expedition and returned to court after escaping the disaster at Tumu.

In the second year of Jingtai (1451), a memorial on the emperor’s diligence led to his appointment to the Hanlin Academy. During the early Jingtai period he successively held the posts of Vice Minister of War, Left and Right Vice Minister of War, Right Vice Minister of Revenue, and Right and Left Vice Minister of Personnel. When Esen repeatedly offered horses, Li Xian argued that rewarding him with gold and silk was not sound policy, described the neglect of frontier defenses, wrote a memorial criticizing the generals at Yu Qian’s request, and presented the 《Jian’gu lu》.

After Yingzong’s restoration, Li Xian concurrently became a Hanlin academician, entered the Wenyuan Pavilion, and shared responsibility for state affairs with Xu Youzhen; he was soon promoted to Minister of Personnel. During the famine in Shandong, when Yingzong proposed releasing treasury funds for relief, Li Xian argued that refusing loans out of fear of official embezzlement would leave the people to die, and the emperor consequently increased the relief funds. As Shi Heng, Cao Jixiang, and Xu Youzhen struggled for power, Li Xian and Xu were imprisoned on suspicion; Li Xian was released and demoted to Vice Commissioner of the Provincial Administration Commission in Fujian.

Before he left for Fujian, Wang Ao memorialized that he should be put to important use, so Li Xian was retained as Left Vice Minister of Personnel; a month later he was restored as Minister of Personnel and continued to participate in state affairs. He thereafter kept a low profile and did not enter the cabinet unless summoned, yet Yingzong drew still closer to him. When the Mongol Bolai threatened the frontier, Li Xian opposed launching a campaign to recover the imperial seal held by Bolai and urged Yingzong to restrain Shi Heng and Cao Jixiang through personal decision and gradual control.

When Cao Qin and his relatives rebelled, they broke into the Eastern Court offices, nearly killing Li Xian and forcing him to draft a memorial excusing Cao Qin. Wang Ao arrived with troops and rescued him; Li Xian then secretly memorialized for the arrest of the rebels, and Yingzong additionally granted him the title Taizi Taibao, also given elsewhere as Taizi Shaobao. He further requested the suspension of non-urgent projects and the solicitation of remonstrance to remedy blocked communications, and the proposals were approved.

After the Cao-Shi rebellion, Yingzong asked whether the restoration should be called the “Seizure of the Gate.” Li Xian argued that it should be called “Welcoming the Carriage” and that the former term should not be handed down; Yingzong therefore ordered memorials not to use it and proposed stripping the honors of more than four thousand people who had claimed merit. At the beginning of the Chenghua era, when those whose honors had been stripped renewed their appeals, Li Xian advised further action, and the hereditary titles of Marquis Taiping Zhang Jin and Earl Xingji Yang Zong were also removed.

The eunuch Men Da, jealous of Li Xian’s favor, falsely accused him of accepting gold from Lu Yu to secure Lu’s appointment as Minister. Yingzong became suspicious and withheld an edict for six months. Men Da then tortured Yang Xun and coached him to implicate Li Xian; at the hearing outside the Meridian Gate, Yang retracted the accusation and said that Men Da had instructed him. The legal authorities nevertheless sentenced Yuan Bin to strangulation and Yang Xun to death; Yingzong allowed Yuan Bin to redeem the sentence with property and transferred him to the Nanjing Embroidered Uniform Guard, while Yang Xun was imprisoned.

In the seventh year of Tianshun, Li Xian urged clemency, the abolition of the Jiangnan silk manufacture, the clearing of the Embroidered Uniform Guard prisons, an end to frontier officials’ tribute offerings, and a halt to purchases inside and outside the court. Yingzong found the proposals difficult, but Li Xian presented them four times and insisted that a minister must speak rather than keep silent to retain office. Throughout the Tianshun era he remained First Assistant in the Grand Secretariat, with Lü Yuan and Peng Shi as his assistants.

After the Chenghua Emperor’s accession, Li Xian was promoted to Shaobao and Grand Secretary of the Huagai Hall and reached the position of First Assistant in the Grand Secretariat. He made preserving talent and opening paths for worthy men urgent priorities, and many notable officials were recognized and advanced. He received the posthumous name Wenda and was posthumously granted Grand Preceptor; Guanglu Dafu and Zuozhuguo are also associated with his honors.

Writings and literary activity

Li Xian compiled the 《Da Ming Yitong zhi》 by imperial command, listed in one book title as the ninety-juan 《Ming Yitong zhi》, and presented the 《Jian’gu lu》. His writings and related titles include the thirty-juan 《Gurang ji》, the thirty-juan 《Gurang zhengji》, the twenty-juan 《Gurang xuji》, 《Gurang zalu》, the one-juan 《He Du shi》, the two-juan 《He Tao shi》, the one-juan 《Du Yi ji》, the one-juan 《Du Shi ji》, and the one-juan 《Tiyan lu》; 《Tianshun mulu》, in three juan, is also given as 《Tianshun rilu》.

Early in his career, Guo Lian tested him with the poem 《Jiahe》 and judged that he possessed the capacity for high office. After the beginning of the Tianshun era, Li Xian entered the Hanlin Academy as an academician together with Xu Youzhen, Xu Bin, and Xue Xuan. The following year, when eight peony blossoms opened in the cabinet compound, Li Xian hosted a feast, composed ten poems, joined the poetic exchange that produced the 《Yutang shanghua shiji》, and wrote its preface.

Beyond his own books, Li Xian wrote epitaphs, spiritway inscriptions, tomb tables, biographies, formal accounts of a life, funerary essays, and colophons, and he exchanged poetry and prose with others.

Family

Li Xian’s great-grandfather was Li Yiqing, his grandfather was Li Wei, his father was Li Sheng, and his mother was Lady Ye; his younger brothers were Li Qian and Li Rang, and his wife was Lady Zhang. His sons were Li Zhang and Li Jie. He had two daughters: the elder married Cheng Minzheng (1445–1499), and the other married Kong Hongxu.